University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Gift  of 


Bruce    Porter 


POEMS 


POEMS 


BY 

HANIEL  LONG 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND   COMPANY 
1920 


COPYRIGHT,     IQ20,     BY 
MOFFAT,    YARD    &    COMPANY 


TO 

WITTER  BYNNER 


rjlHANKS  are  due  to  "Poetry:  A  Magazine  of 
I  Verse";  "The  Poetry  Journal";  "Contem- 
porary Verse"  and  "Harpers1  Magazine"  for  per- 
mission to  reprint  some  of  these  poems. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Through  the  Window  Near  his  Bed 7 

The  Poet  8 

Barakeesh    9 

Ascutney    10 

Presumption    11 

The  Faun    12 

The  Beetle   13 

The  Clock  14 

Shoes  15 

The  Herd  Boy  16 

Three    Quakers 17 

To  One  Who  Rebuked  Him 18 

Ordeal  By  Fire  19 

Madness   20 

A  Sea  Maiden 21 

The  Midnight  Swim 22 

With    Compliments 23 

Three  Poems  on  the  Death  of  Alexander 

I.  The   Dryad   Welcomes  Him 24 

II.  He  Says  Good-bye  to  the  World 25 

III.  They  Tell  of  His  Death  Afterwards 27 

To  the  Viscount  of  Beziers 29 

Song  of  Young  Burbage 30 

Trees  31 

A  Caliph  Smitten  with  Surmise 32 

The  Water  Sprite 33 

On  the  Roadway  to  Matanzas 34 

The  Cuban  in  the  States 35 

I  Gather  Treasures  of  the  Dark 36 

O  Have  You  Listened  to  a  Horn 37 

The    Moon    Beloved..  38 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Moon  Song 39 

Cain    40 

A  Book  of  Economics 41 

There  Was  a  City  Where  Serpents  Writhed 42 

The  Discoverer   44 

Gifts    45 

You  Were  Divulged  from  Forest  Shade 46 

A    Girl 47 

Confidences   48 

And  Then  I  Saw  a  Maid 49 

The    Masker 50 

The  Day  that  Love  Came  Down  to  Me 51 

The   Library 52 

Song 53 

Conspiracy     54 

The  Cause  of  This  I  Know  Not 55 

April,   1917    56 

Dead  Men  and  the  Moon 57 

Dead  Men  Tell  No  Tales 58 

His    Death 59 

The  Sand  Dune 60 

The  Centurion  to  the  Dreamer 61 

Star-dust    62 

Against  the  Rising  Moon 63 

For  Richard   64 

For  Oliver  65 

For    Alan    66 

The  Death  Watch  67 

On  the  Road  to  Gannett  Hill 68 

After    69 

The  Brow  of  Dust..  70 


THROUGH   THE   WINDOW   NEAR  HIS   BED 

rpHROUGH  the  window  near  his  /bed 

On  his  tousled  head, 
All  her  magic  on  the  sprite 
Poured  the  Lady  of  the  night. 

Down  a  ladder  came  the  lad 
With  the  moonlight  mad; 
Down  a  ladder  from  his  room 
To  the  garden's  moonlit  gloom. 

White  with  light  was  every  limb  — 

Moonlight  maddened  him  — 
As  he  nakedly  came  down, 
Having  taken  off  his  gown. 

Trod  he  underneath  the  trees 

With  a  sprightly  ease, 
While  the  moonlight  on  his  face 
Lingered  with  a  winged  grace. 

Thus  he  came  to  know  the  smart 

In  the  trembling  heart, 
When  that  cruel  bee,  the  moon, 
Stings  one  in  her  midnight  noon. 


Down  a  ladder  came  the  lad 

With  the  moonlight  mad ; 
Down  a  ladder  from  his  bed, 
Sleeping  with  the  moon  instead. 


[71 


THE   POET 

T  TAKE  what  never  can  be  taken, 

Touch  what  cannot  be; 
I  wake  what  never  could  awaken, 
But  for  me. 

I  go  where  only  winds  are  going, 

Kiss  what  fades  away; 
I  know  a  thing  too  strange  for  knowing, 

I,  the  clay. 


[8] 


BARAKEESH 

^VTOU  tell  me  that  the  green  god  says 

That  Barakeesh  is  fair; 
I  answer  that  the  strangest  stars 

Are   shining  everywhere, 
That   unaccustomed   suns   arise, 

And  life  is  gay  and  sweet 
As  the  tinkle  of  the  camel  bells 

Along  your   phantom  street. 

0  Friend  of  God,  if  I  decline 

To  taste  the  gift  you  give 
'Tis  that  I  need  no  hash-a-eesh 

To  coax  me  still  to  live. 
Plain  every   day  is  vice   enough, 

With  moons  to  quench  my  thirst; 
And  I  let  the  roses  poppy  me 

When  worst  has   come  to  worst. 


[9] 


ASCUTNEY 

is  the  mountain  dreaming  of 
Misty  yonder  —  has  he  kept 
Green  through  the  day  the  thought  of  her, 

Who   last  night   softly   crept 
Up  from  the  valley  to  his  breast, 
And  there  lay  down  and  slept? 


[10] 


PRESUMPTION 

WHO  are  you,  the  goddess  cried, 

To  clamber  to  my  heaven? 
Merely  a  youth  who's  come  to  be 
Your   lord   and   lover,   answered  he, 
And  stay  with  you  till  daylight 

And  by  what  right,  the  goddess  cried, 

Dare  you  presume  to  speak  so? 
A  thousand  bitter  nights,  he  said, 
Admit  me  to  your  snow-white  bed, 
And  darknesses  support  me. 

I  could  have  built  the  Pyramids 
With  half  the  wasted  thinking 

I've  spent  on  you  and  your  mad  ways. 

Twas  you  that  lost  me  in  this  maze 
Which  now  you'll  lead  me  out  of. 


THE   FAUN 

T  BRING  you  the  scent  of  the  earth  on  my  body, 

The  smell  of  the  leaves  in  my  hair; 
I  come  with  the  wind  and  the  water  upon  me, 
And  never  a  care! 


[12] 


THE  BEETLE 

T  SAW  a  beetle  on  my  knee 
As  I  lay  basking  by  a  tree, 
And  this  is  what  he  said  to  me: 

Since  you  ask  me  of  the  Lotus, 
May  this  oak-tree  not  misquote  us; 
I  the  Scarab  am,  of  old 
Gold  and  green,  and  green  and  gold. 
Let  the  chariots  speed  away, 
Clamor  lasts  for  but  a  day, 
While  the  peace  the  Scarab  gives 
Murder  and  its  god  outlives. 
Egypt  wore  me  on  her  breast, 
Pharaoh  bore  me  as  a  crest. 
Brief  was  Pharaoh's  scarlet  way, 
I  am  green  and  gold  to-day. 

Most  delectably  to  me 

By  the  green  and  golden  tree, 

Spoke  the  beetle  on  my  knee. 


[13] 


THE   CLOCK 

Clock  is  in  a  garden  wide, 
And  there  it  keeps  the  hours, 
And  even  finds  a  way  to  hide 
Its  face  among  the  flowers. 

The  clock  is  in  a  hive  of  bees, 
The  clock  is  in  a  fountain  — 

It's  here,  it's  there,  it's  in  the  trees 
Yonder  up  a  mountain. 

At  times  it's  all  that  I  can  hear  — 
No  surer  clock  could  be  — 

For  it  is  always  somewhere  near, 
And  strikes  eternity. 


[14] 


SHOES 

T  CANNOT  put  the  old  shoes  on, 
They're  too   far   gone   to   wear 
And   yet   I   cannot   quite   assume 
My  newly  purchased  pair. 

The  difficulty  is  extreme. 

Since  shoes  are  such  a  trial, 
I  guess  that  I'd  go  happier 

Barefoot   for   awhile. 


[15] 


THE   HERD-BOY 

night  I  brought  the  cows  home 
Blue  mist  was  in  the  air, 
And  in  my  heart  was  heaven, 
And  on  my  lips  a  prayer. 

I  raised  my  arms  above  me, 
I   stretched  them  wide   apart, 

And  all  the  world  was  pressing 
In  beauty  on  my  heart. 

The  lane  led  by  a  river 

Along  an  ancient  wood, 
And   ancient  thoughts   came   softly, 

As  with  the  leaves  they  should. 

I  hung  the  cows  with  garlands, 
And  proud  they  walked  before; 

While  mother-naked  after 
A  laurel  branch  I  bore. 


[16] 


THREE  QUAKERS 

T     MET  three  Quakers  on  a  hill, 

And  thee'd  and  thou'd  with  them  until 
I  thought  I  was  a  Quaker,  too, 
And  Quakers  all  the  birds  that  flew 

And  Quakers  all  the  trees  that  stood 

Like  little  angels  being  good, 

Whilst  Quaker  thoughts  paced  through   my  brain 

Like  Quaker  maidens  down  a  lane. 

Alas,  a  solemn  goat  came  by, 
And  butted  me,  and  closed  his  eye; 
And  not  a  Quaker  I  could  quote 
Would  make  him  be  a  Quaker  goat. 


[17] 


TO    ONE    WHO    REBUKED    HIM    FOR 
WRITING    A    THOUSAND    POEMS 

T>UT  is  it  such  a  shameful  thing 
•*~^     To  see  so  many  flowers  in  Spring? 


[18] 


ORDEAL  BY   FIRE 

A  ND  so  she  was  condemned  to  pass  the  night 
•**"    Above,   beneath,   beside,   within   a  flame; 
And  everywhere  she  looked  the  sky  was  bright, 
And  everywhere  she  turned  the  burning  came. 

Tongues  licked  her  body,  and  a  blaze 
Piled  up  as  though  her  April  skin  were  pitch; 

And  yet  she  rose  unharmed,  and  went  her  ways, 
And  the  grey  monks  intoned,  She  was  no  witch, 
She  was  no  witch! 


[19] 


MADNESS 


night  came  softly  to  the  sea; 
And  they,   the   seven   stars,  to  me. 


The  sea,  the  seven  stars,  and  I 
Gave  an  involuntary  cry 

That  echoed  in  the  hills  and  went 
The  ways  of  old  bewilderment. 

And  I  alone  the  reason  knew, 
And  I  had  told  it  then  to  you; 

But  stars  are  strange,  the  sea  is  deep 
And  you  were  lovely,  in  your  sleep. 


[20] 


A   SEA   MAIDEN 

T^ACE-DOWN  was  I  upon  a  sea, 

And  not  a  planet  swung  in  space 
Could  mark  a  form  that  under  me 
Rose  to  my  embrace. 

What  face  I  kissed,  no  moons  disclose; 

My  eager  lips  drank  in  the  deep, 
And  vast,  mysterious  limbs  were  those 

Which  rippled  me  to  sleep. 


[21] 


THE   MIDNIGHT   SWIM 

A  LCHEMY  snared  me  with  a  spell. 
-^  Where  heaven  began,  I  could  not  tell, 
Where  water  ended  I  could  not  see; 
Both   were   above    and   under   me. 
For  I  was  floating  late  and  far 
Where  there  was  neither  shore  nor  star. 
The   depthless  valleys   far  below, 
The  ether's  endless  vertigo, 
I  fled  from  both.     With  senses  dim 
Like  one  in  a  primeval  sleep, 
I   silently   began  to   swim 
Reptilian  across  the  deep. 

Suddenly  loomed  from  the  vast  haze 
A  hill  to  meet  my  searching  gaze, 
And  finding  I  could  safely  stand 
I  climbed,  a  man,  to  the  dry  land. 
Then  the  warm  air  pressed  round  me 
And  in  leafy  fragrance  drowned  me. 
I  felt  my  rigid  thews  relent 
In  the  more  kindly  element, 
And  I  distinguished,  solid,  sweet, 
The  planet  earth  beneath  my  feet, 
Calm  that  I  at  last  might  be 
Vertical  like  bush  and  tree, 
Not  horizontal,  on  a  sea. 


[22] 


WITH   COMPLIMENTS 

went  along  a  forest  road, 
Went  naked  in  the  night; 
Our  bodies  in  the  moonlight  showed 
Curious  and  bright. 

I  don't  think  you'd  enjoy  it; 

Although  you  have  the  wit, 
I  doubt  if  you'd  employ  it 

Or  like  the  lark  a  bit. 

Yet  there  was  nothing  novel 
That  night  in  what  we  did  — 

We  saw  the  old  moon  travel; 
Like  him,  we  went  unhid. 

Just  after  dawn  we  met  a  dame 
Who  some  day  shall  be  dead, 

And  when  we  bright  triumphant  came 
She  covered  up  her  head. 


[23] 


THE  DEATH  OF  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT 

THREE  POEMS 

I 

THE  DRYAD  WELCOMES  HIM 

/"CITIES  which  knew  you  shall  know  you  no  more: 
^    Come,  to  new  intimacies; 
Dream  as  the  wisest  of  men  dreamed  before  — 
Stay  and  be  safe  on  this  magical  shore; 
Stay,  and  be  lovely  with  trees. 

Elephants  dance  here,  stately  and  slow, 
On  the  fourteenth  night  of  the  moon; 
Children  and  emperors  ride  to  and  fro 
With  princesses  swarthy  and  whiter  than  snow, 
And  boys  like  the  sun  at  its  noon. 

Stay,  and  be  young  with  the  blossoms  of  May; 

Stay,  and  be  violet-crowned; 
For  youth's  a  libation  the  world  throws  away, 
But  here  you  may  offer  it  day  after  day 

To  the  gods  of  the  sky  and  the  ground. 


[24] 


II 

HE  SAYS  GOOD-BYE  TO  THE  WORLD 

The  sound  of  subterranean  violins 

Below  the   woodwind   orchestra   of   leaves 

Has  entered  me; 

And  lo,  my  song  begins, 

And  Alexander  dances  as  he  weaves. 

I  sing  the  panic  of  young  birth 

And  the  ravishment  of  earth; 

The  bright  dismay 

Of  flowers  naked  in  the  day; 

The  monstrous  license  and  illusion 

Of  profusion, 

The  seed  that  struggles  to  creation 

Through  the   surging  night, 

And  the  raids  of  emanation 

To  the  light. 

0  frenzy  to  escape  the  Many 

And  be  One; 

To  be  blind  to  the  debauchery  of  shade 

And  leap  to  the  gold  of  the  sun! 

For  everything  I  see  is  a  release 

From  chaos  to  the  peace 

Of   an  identity. 

O  proud  rejection  of  what  cannot  be 

That  gives  the  oak  its  majesty ! 

0  great  integrity  of  heart 

That  keeps  each  sapling  faithful  to  his  part 

Was  Alexander  thus,  or  did  he  violate 

With  crimson  the  white  dignity  of  fate? 

[25] 


Who  knows? 

Silent  is  the  rose, 

And  Alexander  dances  here  alone 

With  flesh  unstable  and  dissolving  bone. 

I  too,  I,  Alexander, 

Have  felt  the  fingers  of  the  sea, 

And  trees  have  held  me  quietly. 

Leopards  have  marked  the  inside  of  my  thigh 

With  the  play-bite;  and  from  the  farthest  sky 

Eagles  have  come  impassioned  to  my  breast 

And  longing  for  my  life  confessed. 

I  sing  the  panic  of  young  breath, 

And  the  strugggle  back  to  death. 

'Tis  strange, 

We  so  desire  to  be  apart  — 

And  then  we  change, 

We  desire  to  have  done, 

To  be  gathered  heart  to  heart. 

After  the  day  of  million-fold  identity 

Follows  the  night  when  all  identities  are  one. 

And  I, 

Who  face  the  sky 

The  proudest  scion  of  my  race, 

No  more  would  Alexander  be, 

But  lie  in  the  intricate  embrace 

Of  flower  after  flower, 

Tree  upon  tree. 


[26] 


Ill 

THEY  TELL  OP  His  DEATH  AFTERWARDS 

a  land  where  goats  are  browsing 
And  the  crimson  thistles  are, 
Alexander  came  carousing, 
Came  carousing  in  a  car. 

Suddenly  he  ceased  from  laughter; 
By  his  side  the  charioteer 
In  the  silence  that  came  after 
Sank  upon  his  knees  with  fear. 

Alexander,  king  of  kings, 
Thought  he  heard  the  beat  of  wings; 
Truths  his  tutor  never  taught  him. 
Came  about  him  and  besought  him. 

Alexander,  king  of  kings, 
Cast  away  his  helm  and  greaves; 
He  could  see  within  the  leaves 
Dancing  shapes  and  lovely  things. 

There  was  fever  in  his  breast, 
And  he  acquiesced  — 
Left  his  car  to  rot  and  rust, 
Went  away  from  death  and  dust, 

Went  away  from  lust  and  lying, 
Went  to  meadows  and  to  streams 
Where  there's  never  need  of  dying  — 
Went  to  be  a  prince  of  dreams: 

[27] 


Left  the  wrongness  and  the  Tightness 
Of  the  things  we  dare  — 
Took  his  beauty,  took  his  brightness, 
Took  his  golden  hair. 


[28] 


TO   THE   VISCOUNT   OF   BEZIERS 
1209  A.D. 

QIMON  de  Montfort  seemed  to  win, 

Simon  de  Montfort  lost. 

You  played  the  game  through  thick  and  thin, 
And  paid  the  uttermost  cost 
That  a  lad  should  pay 
Who  dared  to  say 
Thought  is  free,  and  life  is  gay, 
And  birds  are  sweet  in  early  May. 

The  winds  have  taken  your  foeman  now; 

Your  name  is  snow  and  gold. 
Even  in  death  you  showed  us  how 
Dreamers  could  have  and  hold. 
And  we  try  to  say 
Your  words  to-day, 
Thought  is  free,  and  life  is  gay, 
And  birds  are  sweet  in  early  May. 


[29] 


SONG   OF   YOUNG   BURBAGE 


goat  that  rubbed  my  knees  last  night 
And  left  his  ancient  smell 
Maddened  my  heart  that  I  was  what 
A  horned  goat  could  tell. 

For  if  his  favour  singled  me 
Out  of  the  passing  crowd, 
It's  plain  I'm  not  too  well  disguised, 
Nor  yet  too  worldly  proud. 

Most  difficult  it  is  to-day 

Beneath  a  coat  and  vest; 
I  feared  my  old  identity 

Might  fade  with  all  the  rest. 

But  I'll  go  back  to  hill  and  sky 

And  hold  a  colloquy; 
I  need  those  ancient  presences 

Whose  tumult  still  is  —  me. 


[30] 


TREES 

C  INGE  I  became  a  caliph  I  have  known 
No  councillors  so  prudent  as  the  trees. 
When  I  walk  forth  I  never  go  alone, 
And  they  are  with  me  when  I  take  my  ease. 

We  spend  the  night  in  revelry  and  song; 

By  day  we  wag  our  beards  and  sit  sedate. 
If  rash  intruder  question  us  too  long, 

We  yawn,  and  plead  the  heaviness  of  state. 


[31] 


A   CALIPH   SMITTEN   WITH   SURMISE 

A     Caliph  smitten  with  surmise 
**r?  Forbade  a  certain  star  to  rise. 

Strange  influence  is  in  this  star, 
He  thought;  it  must  remove  afar. 

And  yet  at  midnight  just  the  same 
The  star  which  was  forbidden  came. 

He  dared  not  wander  out  at  night 
While  the  red  star  was  waning  white; 

For  when  he  did,  his  waking  dreams 
Were  mingled  with  amazing  themes, 

And  he  heard  whisper  from  the  skies 
A  star  enamoured  of  his  eyes 

Upon  a  terrace  in  his  park 

He  lay  half-strangled  in  the  dark, 

And  secrets  which  it  wished  to  tell 
Came  from  the  earth  whereon  he  fell. 

He  sent  for  his  astrologer 
About  the  portent  sinister. 

Deliverance  from  this  star  he  sought 
And  from  the  fevers  which  it  brought. 

The  wise  man  said,  0  happy  child, 
With  this  strange  star  be  reconciled; 

Under  the  Prophet's  Star  who  dwell 
May  madness  know  and  yet  be  well. 
[32] 


THE   WATER-SPRITE 

T    SEE  her  as  I  walk  the  shore, 

'   Luminous,  opaque. 
She  yearns  for  young  men's  limbs  to  wind, 

For  young  men's  hearts  to  break; 
And  she  has  weeds  to  wreathe  their  brows 

Under  the  clear  lake. 

Some  midnight  when  the  moon  is  full 

And  I  can  hear  her  moan, 
I  shall  walk  slowly  down  to  her, 

Under  the  lake,  alone, 
Bearing  a  cluster  of  land-flowers 

And  an  agate  stone. 


[33] 


ON   THE   ROADWAY   TO   MATANZAS 

N  the  roadway  to  Matanzas 
I  was  busy  building  stanzas. 

Some  were  good  and  some  were  bad, 
But  they  one  and  all  were  mad. 

For  I  knew  the  gods  walked  lately 
Here  where  royal  palms  were  stately, 

And  their  haunting  gave  me  qualms 
In  caesuras  of  those  palms. 


[34] 


THE   CUBAN  IN   THE  STATES 

rpHE  North  is  beautiful,  and  I 
•*•     Would  like  it  —  but  for  me 
How  bud  the  lips  of  woman  by 
The  soft  Habana  sea! 

And  how  can  one  who  long  has  known 

The  fragrance  of  this  rose, 
Keep  from  his  frozen  lips  a  moan 

Against  the  northern  snows? 

I  shiver  at  the  closing  white  — 

But  on  the  sunburnt  south 
I  lie  in  an  eternal  night 

Of  sighing  mouth  on  mouth. 


[35] 


I  GATHER  TREASURES  OF  THE  DARK 

T  GATHER  treasures  of  the  dark 

By  walls  of  fireflies, 
And  at  the  wood-edge  listen  stark 

To  midnight  minstrelsies, 
And  there  a  youth  I  always  meet 
Who  passes  me  on  winged  feet. 

He  flies  too  fast  for  me  to  see 

If  he  be  lass  or  lad  — 
If  lad  he  be,  he  beckons  me 

To  fly  too,  and  be  mad; 
And  if  a  lass,  across  the  night 
She  draws  me  to  her  far  and  bright. 

There's  frenzy  in  the  leaping  limb 
When  the  wide  world's  asleep, 

When  all  the  mountain  tops  are  dim 
And  all  the  valley's  deep  — 

But  what  it  means,  or  why  I  go, 

Only  the  black  magicians  know. 


[36] 


O   HAVE   YOU   LISTENED   TO  A   HORN 

HAVE  you  listened  to  a  horn 

Sounding  behind  the  night, 
And  have  you  leapt  from  bed  at  morn 
To  a  fountain  bright? 

And  have  you  tried  the  flowers  of  June, 
And  drunk  the  draught  of  brooks, 

And  have  you  eaten  of  the  moon 
In  the  forest  nooks? 

And  have  you  known  the  old  romance 

Of  following  a  star 
Which  makes  the  very  dead  to  dance 

After  things  afar? 


[37] 


nP 


THE   MOON-BELOVED 

poet  lies  by  his  silver  sea 
And  loved  of  many  moons  is  he. 


The  years  go  by,  and  Time  assures 
Continuance  of  his  quaint  amours; 

For  worlds  may  break  and  new  ones  be 
As  the  poet  lies  by  his  ancient  sea, 

And  many  a  star  fall  out  of  the  sky 
And  many  a  wise  man  learn  to  die. 

Whilst  he,  the  moon's  bright  golden  boy 
Rests  well  contented  with  moon-  joy. 

Loved  of  the  moon  and  in  her  thrall, 
The  boy  has  naught,  and  so  has  all. 


[38] 


MOON   SONG 

ISS  me  with  flowers  and  flagons, 

Kiss  me  with  clouds  and  your  lips! 
Kiss  me  the  kiss  of  the  dragons 
In  the  foam  of  phantom  ships; 

Give  me  a  lotus  as  token, 
A  poem,  a  flute,  and  a  chime; 

Kiss  me  with  bells  that  are  broken 
In  a  dream  that  has  conquered  Time. 


[39] 


CAIN 

afternoon  was  beautiful, 
White  clouds  were  on  the  hill, 
Until  I  saw  some  little  boys 
Entering  a  mill. 

And  then,  I  saw  but  waiting  shrouds 
Where  the  white  clouds  had  been; 

I  rubbed  a  blood  stain  off  my  hands, 
Only  to  rub  it  in. 


[40] 


A   BOOK   ON   ECONOMICS 

T>ETWEEN  long  rows  of  figures  lurk 
*   Pictures  of  little  girls  at  work; 

And  how  poor  women  fade  away 
Page  after  page  the  margins  say. 

And  in  a  note  once  in  a  while 
I  see  death  freeze  a  baby's  smile. 


[41] 


THERE   WAS   A   CITY   WHERE   SERPENTS 
WRITHED 

nPHERE  was  a  city  where  serpents  writhed 

In  tiles  along  old  yellow  ledges; 
The  swastikas  curved  ceaselessly 
To  and  fro  on  the  palace  edges; 
Rosettes  of  unknown  copper  flowers 
Plaited  the  stone  where  the  totem  lowers; 
And  devil-masks  and  human  faces 
Were  carven  in  the  interspaces. 

White  temples  there  were  wont  to  rise 

Pyramidal  beneath  the  skies. 

The  vanished  priests  and  the  kings  ascended 

With  hieratic  pomp  and  choir 

To  celebrate  the  cult  of  Fire. 

They  mounted  a  thousand  steps  and  one; 

They  mounted,  and  knelt  before  the  sun. 

And  in  that  city,  beside  the  palace, 
Underground  rivers  formed  a  pool. 
There  at  the  call  of  primal  malice 
Men  threw  maidens  to  a  ghoul. 
Milk-white  maidens,  weeping,  bound, 
They  threw  to  rivers  underground; 
And  the  lecherous  rivers  bore  them  away 
To  lands  beyond  the  reach  of  day. 

Where  is  that  city?     In  a  green  tide 
The  jungle  beats  the  terrace  wide, 


[42] 


Its  streets  beneath  the  tropic  sun 
Whiten  and  age;  its  life  is  done. 


Priests  still  ascend,  and  maidens  fall 
0  is  there  any  hope  at  all? 


[43] 


THE   DISCOVERER 

/CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS 
^  Runs  through  the  grass, — 
He  hushes,  he  halts, 

At  sight  of  a  lass; 
And  the  moment  unlocked  for 

Has  come  to  pass. 

He  marks  her  as  seemly, 
Approves  her  as  right; 

She  stands  in  the  brook 
Like  the  falling  of  light, 

More  golden  than  gold, 
Whiter  than  white. 


[44] 


GIFTS 

T  MUST  have  many  a  golden  moon 

With  mermaids  and  the  sea, 
And  many  a  summer  afternoon 
With  peacocks  calling  me, 

And  mottled  pythons,  too,  to  sleep 

Along  an  onyx  stair, 
And  gaze  at  me  with  vision  deep, 

Sluggish,  unaware. 

And  that  I  may  pursue  the  guile 

Of  the  remote  and  strange, 
Perhaps  I'll  need  a  crocodile, 

A  panther,  for  a  change. 

Caesar  and  Mephistopheles 

Must  sit  with  me  at  board, 
My  clown  against  the  Devil's  knees 

Jesting  with  Caesar's  sword. 

But  bring,  when  you  have  done  with  these, 

Still  further  gifts  to  me  — 
A  girl  to  love,  a  group  of  trees, 

An  infant  on  my  knee. 


[45] 


YOU   WERE   DIVULGED    FROM 
FOREST    SHADES 


were  divulged  from  forest  shade, 
Who  bore  you  but  the  vine? 
It  was  the  fountains  that  betrayed, 
The  stars  that  made  you  mine. 

You,  who  enamoured  of  the  moon 

Linger  to  comfort  me, 
Whose  eyes  are  brighter  than  the  moon, 

More  agile  than  the  sea. 

Approaching  softly  with  the  dawn, 
You  sing  your  heart  in  words 

Which  make  too  poor  the  mating  song 
Of  all  the  other  birds. 


[46] 


A   GIRL 

/~\NE  of  life's  pioneers 

^^  To  whom  God  gave  deep  eyes 

To  see,  and  deep  deep  ears 

To  hear,  and  little  veins 

To  penetrate,  in  the  dark, 

The  spell-bound  earth,  and  the  heavens, 

For  news  of  all  far  beauty, 

For  tidings  remote  and  lovely, 

And  creeping  shadow-fears: 

She  dances  through  ancient  forests 

Winding  her  limbs  in  leaves 

Her  locks  with  the  green  nightshade: 

She  follows  the  spotted  moth 

Where  the  red  flower  appears 

Under  the  beard  of  the  live-oak; 

She  poises  slender  and  topaz 

At  night  by  moonlight  meres, 

Marking  the  crystal  barge 

Of  Paris,  and  piping  the  dirge 

Of  his  beauty  on  the  black  bier; 

She  harkens  to  the  low  wind 

Which  weeps  in  the  wood-edges, 

Till  the  lancers  of  dawn  ride  up 

With  outflung  crimson  spears. 

And  then  she  comes  distrait 
Into  the  open  day, 
And  wonders  how  to  tell  us 
Her  tidings  far  away. 


[47] 


CONFIDENCES 

AID  the  sun  to  the  boy: 
What  I  spake  to  thee  to-day, 
Go  and  whisper  to  a  maiden 
For  thy  joy. 

A  maple  bent  to  him: 
Between  thee  and  thy  lass, 
All  that  passed  between  us 
Bring  to  pass. 

That  I  told  to  thee  to-night, 
Said  the  moon, 
Speak  thou  softly 
To  her  soon. 

When  he  met  his  love, 
The  sun  was  in  his  face, 
The  moonlight  and  the  leaves, 
In  his  embrace. 


[48] 


AND   THEN   I   SAW   A   MAID 

rpHERE  is  a  madness  out  of  wonder  born, 
-  And  out  of  madness  comes  a  parching  thirst; 

So  I  who  wandered  stricken  and  forlorn 

Was  like  a  dreamer  with  his  dream  accursed. 

And  still  I  dreamt,  and  thought  my  heart  would 
burst 

With  the  great  wonder  of  this  world  to  share. 

And  then  I  saw  a  maid,  that  she  was  fair. 


And  wonder  now  is  budding  like  the  rose, 

And  wonder  now  is  waxing  like  the  sea, 

And  what  may  come  no  necromancer  knows, 

For  what  has  never  been,  at  last  shall  be. 

Eternal  lips  have  leaned  to  whisper  me 

The  song  which  makes  a  deathless  world  the  way 

Of  decking  lovers  for  their  golden  day. 


[49] 


THE   MASKER 

T    FELL  in  love  with  you 
•*-    (Guessing  that  you  were  truth), 
For  you  were  masked  and  strange, 
And  you  were  Youth. 

And  then  when  I  was  sure 
That  love  and  youth  were  true, 

I  took  the  mask  away 
And  you  were  You. 

But  gazing  on  you  still 

As  hungry  lovers  do, 
I  saw  that  you  were  more 

Than  Youth,  or  You; 

You  had  a  third  Shape,  too, 
Hidden  for  my  surprise  — 

I  looked,  and  saw  it  masked 
Within  your  eyes. 


[50] 


THE   DAY   THAT  LOVE   CAME   DOWN 
TO   ME 


TT7HEN  Love  bethought  her  to  come  down  to  me, 

Now  must  I  dress  me  well,  said  she; 
Since  he  has  only  mortal  wit, 
I  must  give  up  my  native  tongue; 
Since  he  has  only  mortal  ears, 
I  must  give  up  the  songs  I've  sung 
And  take  an  earthly  melody. 
Since  he  has  only  mortal  eyes 
I  must  depart  the  stretched  skies 
And  wear  a  mortal  veil. 
Leaving  my  home  above  me, 
I'll  be  a  girl  that  he  may  love  me. 
Lips  I'll  have  that  he  may  kiss, 
Limbs  that  he  may  see. 
For  this  let  all  my  wonders  pale 
And  dwindle  to  mortality. 
Thus  did  my  Love  bethink  her, 
When  she  came  down  to  me. 

And  yet  my  love  could  not  disguise 
Upon  that  day  her  deathless  eyes. 


[51] 


THE   LIBRARY 

"DETALS  of  flowers  filling  my  vases, 

Sealed  in  crystal  state, 
Millions  of  beautiful  broken  faces 
In  my  volumes  wait. 

Here  are  the  blossoms  of  vanishing  lovers 

Who  once  desired  the  sun: 
Here  are  their  beds  and  their  tapestried  covers, 

Theirs,  whose  loves  are  done. 

Some  kissed  on  laurel,  and  some  on  the  roses, 

Some  on  the  columbine; 
And  I  gather  them  here  ere  love-time  closes 

Always  to  be  mine. 


[52] 


SONG 

T>OPPIES  paramour  the  girls; 
Lilies  put  the  boys  to  bed; 
Death  is  nothing  else  than  this 
After  everything  is  said. 

They  are  safe  and  shall  not  fade, 
After  everything  is  done, 

Past  the  solace  of  the  shade 
Or  the  rescue  of  the  sun. 


[53] 


THE   CONSPIRACY 

1X/TY  mother  gave  me  to  the  moons, 

And  gave  in  turn  the  moons  to  me, 
One  midnight  when  she  sang  her  tunes 
To  a  baby  on  her  knee. 

I  saw  a  kingdom  in  the  sky; 

And  as  I  watched  it  move  and  shine, 
I  stretched  my  arms  out  with  a  cry, 

Knowing  the  moon  was  mine. 

Though  I  have  seen  the  right  turn  wrong, 
And  common  things  grow  strange, 

O  I  have  watched  the  moons  too  long 
To  be  afraid  of  change. 


[54] 


THE   CAUSE   OF   THIS   I   KNOW  NOT 


cause  of  this  I  know  not, 
Whither  they  went  nor  why, 
But  I  still  remember  the  laughter 
And  the  bright  eyes  flashing  by, 
The  day  the  girls  were  kissing 
The  boys  who  had  to  die. 

I  search  in  vain  for  the  reason  — 
What  does  a  poet  know?  — 

Only  that  youth  is  lovely, 
Only  that  youth  must  go; 

And  hearts  are  made  to  be  broken 
And  love  is  always  woe. 


[55] 


APRIL,    1917 

nPHOUGH  life  returns  with  April's  breath 

And  olden  dreams  are  in  her  hair, 
I  feel  the  undertones  of  death 
And  there  is  blood  upon  the  air. 


[56] 


DEAD    MEN   AND   THE   MOON 

TpORTUNATE  they  that  take  advice 

-*-    Of  dead  men  and  the  moon, 

For  dead  men's  bones  are  loaded  dice, 

The  moon  a  bright  doubloon; 
And  gamblers  poor  can  stake  a  price 

To  make  a  Croesus  swoon. 

If  in  the  fury  of  the  play 

The  moon  should  disappear, 
Our  dead  men  clink  behind  the  day 

Until  at  dusk  we  peer 
To  see  them  heave  her  through  the  grey 

And  roll  her  glory  near. 

Florin  of  Dreams!     0  many  a  night 

The  dusty  dice  we  shake; 
The  while  the  horror  sinks  in  flight 

And  brighter  grows  the  stake, — 
The  future  that  shall  be,  despite 

What  shadows  undertake. 


[57] 


DEAD   MEN   TELL   NO  TALES 
r|^HEY  say  that  dead  men  tell  no  tales! 

Except  of  barges  with  red  sails 
And  sailors  mad  for  nightingales; 

Except  of  jongleurs  stretched  at  ease 
Beside  old  highways  through  the  trees; 

Except  of  dying  moons  that  break 
The  hearts  of  lads  who  lie  awake; 

Except  of  fortresses  in  shade 

And  heroes  crumbled  and  betrayed. 

But  dead  men  tell  no  tales,  they  say! 

Except  old  tales  that  burn  away 
The  stifling  tapestries  of  day; 

Old  tales  of  life,  of  love  and  hate, 
Of  time  and  space,  and  will  and  fate. 


[58] 


HIS   DEATHS 

TTE  bore  the  brunt  of  it  so  long 

*•  And  carried  it  off  with  wine  and  song, 
The  neighbours  paused  and  raised  an  eye 
At  hearing  he  had  learned  to  die. 

'Twas  on  a  Friday  that  he  died, 
But  Easter  day  his  neighbours  spied 
His  usual  figure  on  the  streets, 
And  one  and  all  were  white  as  sheets. 

I  died,  said  he,  on  Good  Friday, 
But  someone  rolled  the  stone  away, 
And  I  come  back  to  you  alive 
To  die  tonight  at  half  past  five. 

Monday  at  Babylon  I  fall, 
And  Tuesday  on  the  Chinese  wall, 
Wednesday  I  die  on  the  Thracian  plain, 
And  Thursday  evening  at  Compiegne. 

Saturday,  Sunday,  Monday  too, 
I  die  and  come  to  life  anew; 
Neighbours  like  Thomas  look  and  touch 
Amazed  that  I  can  live  so  much. 


[59] 


SONG   OF   THE  SAND   DUNE 

,  will  you  worship  the  moon  with  me? 
There  are  six  of  us  now  by  the  side  of  the  sea; 
But  seven's  the  number  there  ought  to  be 
When  the  City  of  Death  is  in  motion. 

Here  by  the  side  of  the  sea  is  a  space 
Where  forms  that  are  silent  may  gaze  on  her  face; 
May  move  to  the  music,  may  gather  the  grace 
Of  the  City  that  comes  from  the  ocean. 


[60] 


THE  CENTURION  TO  THE  DREAMER 

T  ALSO  had  authority 

•  And  soldiers  did  my  will, 
So  have  compassion,  Thou,  on  me 

And  remedy  my  ill. 

The  sun  descends  in  smoke  and  flame, 

Disastrous  is  the  field, 
And  now  I  call  upon  Thy  Name 

That  we,  the  dead,  be  healed. 

My  day  is  done;  and  to  the  full 

Yearn  I  for  life  in  Thee, 
To  Whom  each  dream  is  possible, 

While  this  alone  to  me. 


[61] 


STAR-DUST 

V¥7HERE  past  Time  the  roads  go  far 

Littered  with  dust  of  sun  and  star. 
With  sundered  string  and  arrow  sped 
The  angels  of  the  Lord  lie  dead. 

There  lads  of  the  impassioned  races 
Reflect  the  night  skies  in  their  faces; 
Boys'  eyes,  boys'  thoughts  and  bodies  bright 
Are  changing  to  eternal  light. 


[62] 


AGAINST   THE   RISING   MOON 


lake,  the  lad  who  stood  alone 
That  midnight  by  the  shore, 
The  full  low-hanging  orange  moon  — 
The  memory  of  a  boy  I  loved 
Who  went  away  to  war. 


[63J 


FOR   RICHARD 

A  TRUE  believer  in  the  strange, 
**•  Building  a  Bagdad  everywhere, 
He  so  delighted  in  the  change 

Which  comes  of  breathing  different  air, 
That  we  whom  he  has  left  behind 

Past  any  sight,  past  any  sound, 
Must  wish  that  death  for  once  were  kind, 

And  he  could  tell  what  he  has  found. 

The  lad  who  lightly  went  to  meet 

The  adventure  of  the  far  away, 
Can  he  return  by  any  street, 

Has  he  no  single  word  to  say,— 
And  what  of  us,  that  we  can  fail 

To  listen  so  intent  and  well 
Now  when  he  has  the  strangest  tale 

Ever  a  mortal  boy  can  tell? 


[64] 


FOR   OLIVER 

T>  RIGHT  summers  fade,  and  all  bright  faces  too. 

It  seems  but  yesterday  beside  the  lake 
You  stretched  your  brown  length  in  the  sun  to 
bake, 

Or  drove  against  the  waves  in  your  canoe. 

That  summer  Shakespeare  lived  again  in  you. 
You  cried  with  him  at  Harfleur,  Henry's  speech, 
"Once  more,  dear  friends,  once  more  into  the 
breach!" 

Each  day  you  went  as  Shakespeare's  heroes  do. 

So  when  the  bright  world  darkened  with  a  war 
You,  the  adventurer  of  dreams,  aroused 
As  one  who  recognized  his  hour,  and  sped 

Into  the  danger's  very  heart  and  core. 
And  now,  farewell!    They  tell  me  you  are  housed 
Among  the  deathless,  whom  they  call  the  dead. 


[65] 


FOR   ALAN 

nPHE  shapes  of  waking  moments  wearied  him, 
Heroic  beauty  stirred  him  as  he  slept; 

And  so  he  lived  his  youth,  and  so  he  crept 
Back  to  old  shadows  beautiful  and  dim. 
But  at  the  call  to  arms  his  eyes  were  grim; 

Dreams  must  be  saved!     So  he,  the  dream  adept, 

Seeing  young  Death  afar  where  Horror  swept, 
Leapt  with  a  lover's  trembling  in  each  limb. 
He  sought  her  out  he  knew  to  be  his  maiden 

And  cried  to  her  he  flamed  for  as  his  bride. 

The  thundering  guns  were  viols  for  his  suit, 
And  iron  shards  his  couch.      The  day  was  laden 

With  scent  of  deadly  blossoms,  and  he  died  — 

And  now,  wrapt  with  his  maiden,  he  is  mute. 


[66] 


THE  DEATH   WATCH 

HPHE  young  moon  early  slipped  away 
-*-    And  left  the  stars  to  watch  with  me 
A  shape  that  trailed  his  summer  cloak 
By  the  quiet  sea. 

And  there  beside  the  summer  sea 
Under  a  vastness  star-beguiled, 

Young  Death  heard  all  I  had  to  say, 
Everything,  and  smiled. 

Though  this  was  only  yester-eve, 
He  seemed  Someone  I  used  to  know, 

Someone  more  close  to  me  than  life 
In  the  long  ago. 


[67] 


ON  THE  ROAD  TO  GANNETT  HILL 

the  road  to  Gannett  Hill 
South  of  Robin's  lumber  mill, 
Whispers  come  from  waiting  trees 
Sudden  murmurs  on  the  breeze. 

For  the  passing  of  the  hours 
Loses  one  in  miles  of  flowers, 
And  each  winding  of  the  lane 
Leads  one  back  to  trees  again. 

There  the  forest  edges  call 
The  most  careful  feet  that  fall, 
And  the  ears  forever  hark 
Invitations  in  the  dark. 

Invitations  to  return 
To  the  breast  of  flower  and  fern, 
Just  as  though  the  sweet  and  wild 
Leaned  to  its  forgetful  child. 


[68] 


AFTER 

TF  I  had  had  to  face  my  grief 

For  those  I  love  who  now  are  dead, 
Remembering  a  Stoic  belief 
Or  what  some  ancient  Cynic  said, 

From  day  to  day  I  could  not  go 
As  one  who  goes  from  dark  to  light, 

Nor  could  I  know  what  now  I  know 
Of  Shapes  that  keep  away  from  sight. 

It  was  our  lingerings  to  say 

All  sorts  of  things  we  could  not  tell, 

Which  made  them  sure  they  still  might  stay 
Forever  safe  from  a  farewell. 


[69] 


THE   BROW   OF    DUST 

'"PHIS  dust  was  lilies  long  ago, 

And  precious  living  things; 
It  knew  the  shapes  of  loveliness, 
It  rose  on  beating  wings. 

Daughters  of  heaven,  sons  of  earth, 

Mix  in  it  far  and  near, — 
What  wonder  poets  find  the  earth 

A  magic  thing  and  dear, 

And  braid  their  words  from  very  earth, 
And  fear  not  moth  nor  rust, 

And  place  new  garlands  one  by  one 
Upon  the  brow  of  dust. 


[70] 


3525 
H 

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